Advancing Justice condemns surveillance

LOS ANGELES, D.C. (July 9, 2014) — Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles (Advancing Justice – LA) is gravely concerned by news reports published this morning that American Muslims, including five prominent community leaders, have been the subjects of extensive and persistent secret surveillance by two federal agencies, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Security Agency (NSA).

Based on news reports, these Americans are alleged to have been the targets of U.S. surveillance because of their Muslim identity as well as their advocacy on behalf of American Muslim civil rights.

As the nation’s largest legal and civil rights organization for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, Advancing Justice – LA recognizes the profoundly harmful ramifications of targeting particular communities as suspect based on their ethnic or religious identity.

Advancing Justice – LA stands in solidarity with the American Muslim community and calls on the Obama Administration to conduct a full and fair investigation into these reports, to provide a public accounting of all findings, and to take the steps necessary to ensure that the civil liberties and human rights of all communities are protected.

A report published by Glenn Greenwald and Murtaza Hussain in The Intercept exposes an NSA and FBI spying program that targeted prominent Muslim-Americans. Those targeted included a political candidate and former high-ranking Bush administration official, several civil rights activists, academics and lawyers.

According to The Intercept, the government twisted the intention of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — meant to authorize scrutiny of those identified as terrorists and foreign spies — to invade the privacy of U.S. citizens.

This story is the latest revelation about unchecked domestic spying to emerge from the documents former NSA contractor Edward Snowden gave to Greenwald last year. Earlier this week, the Washington Post published a major investigation, also originating from Snowden’s documents, that revealed the NSA was sweeping up and retaining the communications of ordinary Internet users.

Today, Free Press joined the ACLU, the Council on American Islamic Relations and dozens of free speech, social justice and civil liberties groups on a letter to President Barack Obama (pdf) demanding that his administration explain this “discriminatory and abusive surveillance” and expand the Department of Justice’s prohibition against racial profiling to include a ban on profiling based on religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and national origin.

“This latest revelation is yet another example of how the U.S. government has spied on Americans because of their race, religion or politics,” said Free Press President and CEO Craig Aaron. “That prominent Muslim-Americans were seemingly targeted based solely on their religious or political views shows what happens when the government is given the power to spy without clear legal guidelines or accountability.

“Such surveillance has a chilling effect on the free expression, dissenting voices and political organizing the First Amendment is supposed to protect,” he added. “Fortunately, we still have people willing to speak out in the face of intense government harassment, brave whistleblowers like Edward Snowden willing to risk so much to expose this wrongdoing, and journalists willing to investigate and tell these stories.

“We need a full accounting of what the NSA and the FBI have done in our name, and a new independent investigation modeled on the Church Committee,” he said. “We need to end the dragnet that has swept up so many innocent Americans and institute meaningful checks and balances. Our leaders in Washington need to stop making excuses for mass surveillance and start taking immediate action to restore our most fundamental rights.”

Free Press is a nonpartisan organization fighting for people’s rights to connect and communicate. The Free Press Action Fund does not support or oppose any candidate for public office. Learn more at www.freepress.net.

LOS ANGELES, D.C. (July 9, 2014) — Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles (Advancing Justice – LA) is gravely concerned by news reports published this morning that American Muslims, including five prominent community leaders, have been the subjects of extensive and persistent secret surveillance by two federal agencies, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Security Agency (NSA).

Based on news reports, these Americans are alleged to have been the targets of U.S. surveillance because of their Muslim identity as well as their advocacy on behalf of American Muslim civil rights.

As the nation’s largest legal and civil rights organization for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, Advancing Justice – LA recognizes the profoundly harmful ramifications of targeting particular communities as suspect based on their ethnic or religious identity.

Advancing Justice – LA stands in solidarity with the American Muslim community and calls on the Obama Administration to conduct a full and fair investigation into these reports, to provide a public accounting of all findings, and to take the steps necessary to ensure that the civil liberties and human rights of all communities are protected.

A report published by Glenn Greenwald and Murtaza Hussain in The Intercept exposes an NSA and FBI spying program that targeted prominent Muslim-Americans. Those targeted included a political candidate and former high-ranking Bush administration official, several civil rights activists, academics and lawyers.

According to The Intercept, the government twisted the intention of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — meant to authorize scrutiny of those identified as terrorists and foreign spies — to invade the privacy of U.S. citizens.

This story is the latest revelation about unchecked domestic spying to emerge from the documents former NSA contractor Edward Snowden gave to Greenwald last year. Earlier this week, the Washington Post published a major investigation, also originating from Snowden’s documents, that revealed the NSA was sweeping up and retaining the communications of ordinary Internet users.

Today, Free Press joined the ACLU, the Council on American Islamic Relations and dozens of free speech, social justice and civil liberties groups on a letter to President Barack Obama (pdf) demanding that his administration explain this “discriminatory and abusive surveillance” and expand the Department of Justice’s prohibition against racial profiling to include a ban on profiling based on religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and national origin.

“This latest revelation is yet another example of how the U.S. government has spied on Americans because of their race, religion or politics,” said Free Press President and CEO Craig Aaron. “That prominent Muslim-Americans were seemingly targeted based solely on their religious or political views shows what happens when the government is given the power to spy without clear legal guidelines or accountability.

“Such surveillance has a chilling effect on the free expression, dissenting voices and political organizing the First Amendment is supposed to protect,” he added. “Fortunately, we still have people willing to speak out in the face of intense government harassment, brave whistleblowers like Edward Snowden willing to risk so much to expose this wrongdoing, and journalists willing to investigate and tell these stories.

“We need a full accounting of what the NSA and the FBI have done in our name, and a new independent investigation modeled on the Church Committee,” he said. “We need to end the dragnet that has swept up so many innocent Americans and institute meaningful checks and balances. Our leaders in Washington need to stop making excuses for mass surveillance and start taking immediate action to restore our most fundamental rights.”

Free Press is a nonpartisan organization fighting for people’s rights to connect and communicate. The Free Press Action Fund does not support or oppose any candidate for public office. Learn more at www.freepress.net.